Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Vietnam vets sue military in Conn. over discharges blamed on post-traumatic stress disorder

By Associated PressDecember 4, 2012

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The military
has failed to correct the wrongful discharges of thousands of Vietnam
veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, an advocacy
group says in a federal lawsuit.

Vietnam Veterans of America on Monday joined a proposed class
action lawsuit in Hartford against the Army, Navy and Air Force. The
lawsuit, filed last year by a veteran, says the Vietnam veterans
suffered PTSD before it was recognized and were discharged under
other-than-honorable conditions that made them ineligible for disability
compensation and other benefits.

The lawsuit says the military has refused to review or upgrade
the discharge statuses of thousands of Vietnam War-era veterans with
service-related PTSD.
“People did not understand PTSD during the
Vietnam era,” said John Rowan, national president of Vietnam Veterans of
America. “Now that we do, these service members must not be denied the
recognition and benefits they long ago earned.”
The U.S.
attorney’s office, which is representing the military in the lawsuit,
said it’s reviewing the matter and will respond in court. A Department
of Defense spokeswoman said the agency is committed to addressing
concerns related to PTSD and has taken numerous steps, including
conducting PTSD assessments of service members at military treatment
facilities.

The initial lawsuit was filed by Vietnam veteran John
Shepherd, of New Haven, who says he was diagnosed with PTSD in 2004 but
has been repeatedly denied a discharge upgrade.

Shepherd and the
VVA, which has about 65,000 members, are represented by Yale Law School
students who work at a veterans legal services clinic. The students say
since 2003 the Army has approved fewer than 2 percent of applications by
Vietnam veterans claiming PTSD to upgrade discharges, compared to 46
percent for all discharge upgrade applications in recent years.

Some
of the veterans denied had at least one medal or had a PTSD diagnosis
from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the students, who
analyzed the Army data.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he
sympathizes with the veterans’ concerns and has been working with the
Yale Law Clinic, the Department of Defense and state and federal
veterans services agencies on a more equitable process to resolve them.

“The fact that Post-Traumatic Stress was not understood during the
Vietnam War era should not preclude a reconsideration now of individual
cases,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

The lawsuit estimates
about 85,000 of the more than 250,000 Vietnam veterans discharged under
other-than-honorable conditions have PTSD. The discharges were based on
poor conduct such as unauthorized absence without leave, shirking, using
drugs or lashing out at comrades or superior officers, conduct the
lawsuit says was a symptom of underlying undiagnosed PTSD.

PTSD is
a psychiatric disorder that can develop in a person who experiences or
witnesses a traumatic event. Symptoms include flashbacks or nightmares
of the traumatic event.

The veterans have experienced homelessness, prolonged unemployment and troubled relationships, the lawsuit says.

“Isolated and impoverished, they have struggled to cope not only with
their war wounds but also with the shame of a bad discharge,” it says.

The
Army awarded Shepherd with a Bronze Star after his unit came under
intense fire and he entered an enemy bunker and threw a grenade that
killed several enemy soldiers, according to the lawsuit.

Shepherd
developed symptoms of PTSD after blowing up the enemy bunker and later
witnessing the gruesome deaths of several comrades, according to his
lawsuit. Shepherd began to act strangely and was found wandering around a
base in a confused state. He eventually reached a breaking point and
refused to go back out into the field, the lawsuit says.

He was charged with failure to obey an order and was discharged.

Shepherd’s
application for a discharge upgrade was denied again in June. The Army
said he failed to present convincing evidence that his misconduct 43
years ago was the result of PTSD or that his discharge was improper, but
he’s appealing the decision.